Watch elephants, let children play in huge sand dune or get married in Namibia. There is a lot to discover. For singles, couples and families.
A Holiday in Namibia - have a look at a choice of testimonials
 We are still deeply impressed and moved by the experiences we’ve had in Africa. We witnessed an abundant wildlife, saw breathtaking landscapes and most of all: We got to know many people who welcomed us with so much warmth and cheerfullness.
Friends of us were highly praising Africa and so we had great expectations about our holiday. High expectations were not only met but even exceeded. Der itinerary was tight, but we were rewarded: Germany was far away very soon – not only geographically but also mentally and there was not a single day without a highlight. It is a big gift and blessing to do such a trip. Elke often says that we were allowed to throw a glance into paradise. I fully approve!
 Mira said during the drives she cannot imagine that there is anybody, who doesn’t like Floyd. That hits the nail on the head! Without Floyd our trip would only have been half as nice. With his well-balanced nature and his great knowledge he gave us new insights into another world. Floyd was – in accordance with the Adrican Desk concept – a door-opener, who made it possible to take part in human life.
Thanks so much, Elizabeth for brillant planning and the warm welcome in Swakopmund.
Klaus und Elke Huth with Mira & Luca
Bad Mergentheim, Germany
September 2011
 While travelling to Namibia for a second time we wanted to get to know the people better this time – not only Europeans who had immigrated to Namibia, but also people of black African origin. Through the internet we selected African Desk and decided to find out more about the township Mondesa during our 3-days-stay in Swakopmund. Elizabeth answered our mails fast and with comprehensive support – we had all the important details in her first mail already. Elisabeth has got a friendly, winning personality, she’s very helpful with a genuin interest to fulfill all her clients requests and make the stay worthwhile.
 Entering the township was quite emotional in the beginning - being confronted with simple shacks is not easy to take for Europeans with a different background. On the other side the people that we met seemed to have been content with their lives. It made us aware that striving for so called „high living standards“ doesn’t necessarily make people happier. Of course we also had mixed feelings in terms of safety and crime in townships, but with Ushi – Elizabeth’s sister – as a tour guide we felt very comfortable: She was showing us around with calmness and sensitivity. The people we encountered were open-minded and communicative: They told us a lot about their lives and we got to know a lot about the Namibian school system, we visited a kindergarden and a Nama family taught us the click sounds of their language.
Annette Lehnigk-Emden
Ochtendung, Germany
August 2011
 We've enjoyed an amazing and extraordinary family trip thanks to your help! You've taken care of everything with a perfect organization, Elizabeth. We also want to give high praise to Pascallis - he was such an attentive, charming and cheerful tour guide. We had lots of fun with him - especially Aaron and Jürgen, who are fluent in English. We'll keep and cherish all the fond memories about Namibia in our hearts.
Stöckl Family
Altach, Austria
July 2011
 I want to say thank you for the wonderful trip you have organized for me. It was a new experience with the houseboat on the Chobe River, the management and staff of the Ishingo lodge and the atmosphere was a great pleasure and I will definitely come back when whenever I can!
Allan Dallas
Offenbach/ Germany
April 2010
There are many reasons why we’ve taken Namibia to our hearts – and here are some of them:
 Friendly people, an impressive vastness of landscape, a great variety of game especially in the Etosha National Park, photogenic formations of rocks and sand dunes, traces of the German colonial history in Swakopmund, camp sites in lovely surroundings, architecturally charming lodges with luxury buffets, invigorating baths in a wild Atlantic, a blue and happy sky every day and the most beautiful sunrises and dawns. Enjoying a dinner at the open fire with Elizabeth and her family added to our good memories of Namibia.
 We had already been saving for an extraordinary trip with our three teenage kids for some time. Since we had never been to Africa before, we did some research on the internet and found African Desk. This travel agent seemed to offer what we had been looking for: No ordinary tourist trip, but a journey through Namibia meeting the people living there. Floyd, our tour guide, was one of the Namibians who knew almost everything about the citizens of his country. No matter which Namibian was mentioned – he knew them all and told us one story after another during long drives through the desert: the author of Namibia’s national anthem, the prominent athlete Frankie Fredericks or the professional soccer player Benjamin – Floyd knew them all. Besides, he was an excellent driver and we always felt safe with him – even on dusty gravel roads.
 Our boys played soccer in Katatura township, our daughter mounted the horse of a young man and also rode a bit. Since Floyd had also taken his guitar along, we learned some Namibian songs and he also played German ones. After some time our son felt confident enough with Floyd’s guitar to perform something with his singing sister during our visit to the Himba village. In return the Himba people also started singing and dancing. We wish Elizabeth and African Desk many more clients to experience such a perfectly organized trip to Namibia. It exceeded all our expectations and on the day of our departure we were sad to say Good-bye to our new found friend Floyd.
Mensing family
July 2009
Rinkenoes/ Denmark
 Since our first trip to Namibia in 2004 we were determined that one day (and of course as soon as possible) we wanted to be back in that fascinating, wonderful country. In autumn 2008 we planned for a further trip and also our marriage in Namibia. As we usually planned our trips individually we decided to check the internet for a suitable travel agent to make our wishes come true and found Elizabeth from African Desk. This was the beginning of a long, very individual, cheerful and personal association entailing expert advice and planning.
After ten months full of joyful anticipation we eventually embarked on our travel adventure: Lake Oanob – Kgalagadi (South Africa) – Quiver Trees (Kokerboom) - Fish River Canyon – Sossusvlei – Etosha - Waterberg. We enjoyed every second of our trip and of course our wedding in Wolwedans was the crowning highlight. Everything was perfectly organized by African Desk. It was just a pity that we left out Swakopmund – after all the lovely mails with Elizabeth we would have loved to get to know her personally. But it can still happen – Namibia we’re coming back! We are looking forward to adventure, breathtaking landscapes and a visit with Elizabeth.
Thank you for everything!
Michael and Isabelle Schreiber-Pfiffner
Matzingen, Switzerland
July/ August 2009
 It started with the temerarious plan to travel to Africa as families in December 2008. To which places should we go with our children? We didn’t have any experience of Africa but wanted to travel with all in all four children between five and 15 years. Our request via e-mail was immediately answered with proposals that really helped us. Together with Elizabeth de Beer, the Manageress of African Desk, we had been planning our holiday for a whole year and became friends in that period.
We were picked up at Windhoek Airport by our tour guide Floyd Hambira and entered our comfortable, white 10-seater bus that would take us through the country for the next 19 days. In Windhoek we visited the township Katutura, the place where Floyd’s family is staying. At Epako Lodge we saw our first giraffe and the first white rhinos. Not only the children loved that moment. Heart beating included!
 And Floyd was always there for us. There was no question that was too much for him – be it from geography, history, zoology, botany or just his own biography. It was as if we were exploring Namibia with a good friend who was a guardian angel at the same time. It was never boring to drive with him – among his qualities as a Guide he also provided us with nice music and soccer matches for the children. The highlights of our holidays were definitely the animals in Etosha and the hiking trail to one of the highest dunes in the world “Big Daddy”. And on top of it: dune boarding, quadbiking in the desert, feeding seals in Walvis Bay, stroking cheetahs and visiting a Himba village.
We celebrated New Year’s Eve with Elizabeth and her sister Ushi in Mondesa, a township of Swakopmund. The dinner that we shared and the conversations keep lingering in our minds. Without Floyd and Elizabeth we would never have had that feeling of getting to know Africa and maybe also getting a better understanding of the mentality. We left our heart in Africa, we found true friends and will definitely come back again.
Families Lendl and Brandstetter
January 2009
Vienna/ Austria
 We travelled with two families (four adults and three children) to the Northern parts of Namibia. However, none of the package tours that we found on the internet balanced the demands of adults and children that we had in mind. We then got in touch with Elizabeth de Beer from African Desk who organised a family tour to Namibia to suit our specific needs. We could only travel within a 14-day period of the school holidays in October and soon we became aware that we could not cover all the highlights. So we opted for the green part of Namibia and renounced desert and Atlantic coast. Not even for a second did we regret this decision (we can always come back again) and it was overwhelming what we experienced.
We started with the Caprivi strip, wanting to see the Victoria Falls at any rate. Elizabeth had selected the Ichingo Lodge and we took a national flight from Windhoek to Katima Mulilo. It was here that we found ourselves in a paradise of animals: Innumerable elephants, hippos, crocodiles, monkeys and birds very close by. Of all the lodges we felt most comfortable at Ichingo Lodge. After our flight back we discovered Namibia via car staying at Mount Etjo Lodge with game drives, Halali Camp at Etosha National Park, Kunene River Lodge visiting the Ovahimba and Omaruru Lodge.
 With Floyd we had a tour guide who couldn’t have done a better job. He speaks fluent German as well as all the Namibian languages so that we could make contact with Namibians, in particular the Ovahimba. He was very caring, dedicating himself to the children and at the same time being an intellectual, wide awake and cultured companion for the adults. With his experience he helped us observe thrilling scenes like discovering a leopard devouring his prey in a tree. There are certainly more good tour guides with African Desk, but having Floyd for a tour is definitely a big bonus.
Families Böker and Brosius
October 2008
Hamburg, Germany
 It was the luck of the draw that we met African Desk. Susan and I wanted to go to Namibia. That part was certain. But we were discouraged when our first Internet search turned up a tour operator who said the summer months (January and February) were the wrong time to visit. Then we called African Desk.
When we said our objective was to travel through Namibia in January to take photographs and discover both the people and the animals, Elizabeth provided a trip that gave us just that. Even before we arrived, it was clear that African Desk was more than just a tour operator. Our questions were answered quickly and our fears eased. With our exchange of e-mails, Elizabeth became more than just a tour operator. She is now a friend. That was all before our trip.Then, we arrived in Windhoek.
We saw and photographed a leopard, three lions, seven giraffes and herds of oryx, ostriches and wildebeests. And that was just in our first day in Namibia.
 Our guide Floyd Hambira gave us the same care as Elizabeth. He showed us the various indigenous plants, spotted and identified animals before we saw them and unlocked many secrets of the landscape we would never have known without him. He also introduced us to the different lifestyles of the Himba, Herero, Damara and San peoples. Like Elizabeth, Floyd, too, became a valued friend. That was especially significant since Floyd was friendly with many people in every town we visited. He modestly laughed when we said we thought he knew every one of Namibia's 2.2 million people.
After more than 3,000 km and 1500 photographs, our friends back home marvel at the wealth of experiences and stories we brought back with us from our short 11-day trip. We will return soon. And African Desk will be our first stop.
Tom and Susan Forgrave,
January/ February 2008
Pittsburgh, USA
 Everybody is romanticizing Namibia - mainstream-magazines are publishing colourful reports stating: "A dream"…"One can feel God's creation". So we decided: This should be our next destination! But how? With a travel office? By bus? Or self-drive with left-hand traffic? Gravel roads? Booking everything ourselves? Thank God there is the internet featuring an abundance of reports. After examining at least 100 sources we selected eight German travel offices and two Namibian ones asking them for further information. And by first sight already African Desk qualified, also after comparing their price/performance ratio.
However, four major concerns remained:
Can we organize such a trip via e-mail with a small Namibian tour operator? Is such a small enterprise competent, solvent and trustworthy? Can we risk paying the total price in advance - without a risk coverage certificate as clients usually get in Germany? Does the highly praised tour guide really speak sufficient German and will it be possible to overcome the cultural gap? To start with the last point: Out of 40 years' travel experience we have never had such a well-tempered, charming, pleasant and at the same time highly competent tour guide arranging the most beautiful trip we have ever experienced. He became a friend to us!
 And with the patience of Job, Elizabeth de Beer considered all our wishes and ideas to have an "ideal" trip. She did not hesitate to also advise against ideas and came up with very good alternatives. All the bookings worked out perfectly, everything was on time; all the contacts full of good humour and a positive attitude - with Floyd as well as Elizabeth.
Some days of anxiety came after paying the rest of the price when the internet line broke up, but even this was a meaningless incident. A temporarily non- functioning server at African Desk and an e-mail adress treated as spam from our client. And again: Everything went well. So far it has been our most beautiful trip. We are longing for Namibia and "our Floyd" and we can warmly recommend Elizabeth de Beer and African Desk.
Monika and Dr. Kurt Mattei,
September/ October 2007
Gräfelfing, Germany
 During my holiday in Namibia in 2007 I travelled through the country – starting at the Fish River Canyon to Sossusvlei and Swakopmund up to the Kaokoveld. I met people from the Damara, Herero, and San tribes and I saw a variety of animals in Etosha National Park.
However, I missed the insight into Namibian everday life, so I looked for an opportunity to stay with a Namibian family for a couple of days. Elizabeth de Beer from African Desk made my wish come true.
For three days I moved into Ushi’s place in Mondesa, about five kilometers from Swakopmund. With her and her three sons I instantly felt at home. My host family stayed in a small house with a terrace, a big garden and equal to European standards (shower, bathroom, TV, radio). They moved in together for me and gave me a room for myself. Wholeheartedly they adopted me. With Ushi I visited the kindergarten of Mondesa as well as seeing other families. By foot we explored the old and the new Mondesa. I made friends with the last born of my host family, I played and froliced with him and his friends in the garden or the nearby park. We taught each other German, English and Afrikaans words. We bought food in the supermarket (with European brands) and prepared our meals together. Luckily my homemade „spaghetti with tomato-sauce“(which child would not like this?) was as tasty to them as Ushi’s African food. The three boys all attend school, even the last born did not only exercise reading and writing but also had to iron his school uniform all by himself. People in Mondesa are friendly and open-minded, in a trice I was surrounded by a gaggle of kids, curiously watching me and asking me lots of questions. I felt very much at ease with my host family. At times my role as a mother in Germany resembled my daily routine in an African family. Still it was quite a different and definitely a worthwhile and valuable experience.
Marion König
Hamburg, Germany
October 2007
 Thank you for organising such a good program for me and for being so helpful during my visit to Namibia. You treated me more like a friend than a client, and I appreciated it very much.
The choice of lodges was excellent. They were all different, but very interesting to me. If I had to pick one lodge as the best overall, it would be Mt Etjo. It would have been better to stay inside Etosha, instead of outside at the Safari Camp, but I understand why that was necessary given the short notice you had to plan my trip. The staff at the Safari Camp were very kind, and I enjoyed their singing at dinner.
Pascallas was an excellent guide and driver, very competent and reliable. I am not a very talkative person, so I hope he was not too bored on the long drives between sites. His uncle Ben was very hospitable when I visited their farm and I hope I was not too much trouble for them. Pascallas’s grandfather became ill while I was at the farm and had to go to Outjo. I hope he is getting better.
 I would be happy for you to give my email address to any of your other clients who would like to hear the opinions of a satisfied client like myself and see some photos. Namibia is a very easy destination for tourists. The roads and accommodation are good. Language is no problem. The towns are very orderly and well organised.
Thanks again, Elizabeth. I wish all travel operators were like you.
Bob Muirhead
September 2007
Melbourne, Australia
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